Innocent Jailers: The Story of the Pilot
by Sir Doodlington
Summary: Each gem has a role to play. The Pilot's is bringing the Technician, Escort and Informant to Earth to check on the Cluster and remove the annoyance the Technician won't let up about. It just so happens that the "annoyance" happens to be the remainder of the Crystal Gems. And to make matters worse, he's shipwrecked. Marooned in Beach City. Well, at least he can see the clouds here.
1. Chapter 1

Eyop! So here's a little thing that I wrote. There's swearing in this, so...yeah.

If you come across any errors please tell me about them but otherwise please read on!

* * *

When the ship landed it was almost night. "Twilight" as the locals called it. There were a number of clouds of water in the sky permeated by the green light the ship gave off. They drifted lazily across the sky like...things that drift. They gathered in places and exchanged windy whispers of their travels before dispersing with new energy to tell other cloud drifters. But in the end they'd all end the same. They'd get too warm and disappear. Such was life.

The thoughts of the Pilot were of this vein as he landed the ship on the beach in front of the supposed rebels' base and set down the Technician - Peridot with a short temper and shorter stature, the Escort - a prime example of a Jasper with her large muscles and violent temperament, and the Informant - a pitiful Lapis Lazuli who had recently returned to Homeworld with news of the until-recently-deceased Crystal Gems - on the tip of the exit ramp. There had been the small matter of a Quartz laser shot at them from the ground but the ship was far too advanced to fall to such a primitive gun.

The Pilot quickly assessed the situation and, looking down at the four on the beach, came to a conclusion quickly. One shot ought to do it. All he had to do would be to wait for the signal.

Until then, back to the clouds. Those innocent jailers that taunted those on the planet's surface. The Pilot gave a small sigh at that. Leave it to him to come up with some weird crap like that.

Then, after a short discussion between the Technician and the Escort, the Technician gave the signal.

The Pilot quickly gave the computer the instructions to point directly at the quartet on the beach and charged up the laser while the giant hand shaped ship pointed itself at the Targets. As the cannon reached its full charge, the Pilot gave the instruction to fire. And fire it did. A beam of destruction, a symbol of the Leaders' power - their wrath, wasteful when used upon such weak beings as the traitorous four in front of the ship.

There was an explosion when the shot hit the Targets - not uncommon. A cloud of dust and sand was kicked up, surrounded the obviously shattered gems. The Pilot was just readying a drone to collect the remains when the cloud cleared. And what was behind the cloud made the Pilot raise an eyebrow. There was a shield. An easily recognizable shield. A shield which meant hatred and a feeling akin to blood lust.

Rose Quartz' shield.

The Pilot's eyes narrowed as the shield dismantled itself again and he awaited orders with a new energy.

Another signal. Widespread barrage.

An intense beam was rapidly fired at the group, dividing the four before blowing up in their faces just to add insult to injury. Rose Quartz would shatter before this day was through.

But there were no new orders.

The Pilot wanted to fire again - wanted to tear the Quartz's being atom from atom and dance in the dust. But he knew his place. Waited obediently.

The largest of the Targets, a fusion, charged the Escort but to no avail. They quickly fell apart with a blow from the Escort's destabilizer leaving two gems laying in the sand.

Served them right for siding with the traitor.

The Escort walked up to Quartz and spoke. The words were unheard by the Pilot but hearing them was unnecessary. They were words from the victor of a battle to its loser. The Escort picked up the Quartz by her shirt and grinned maliciously at her. The other two Targets, a Pearl and a defective Amethyst, tried to take the Escort out but it was too late. She knocked the Quartz unconscious easily and again pulled out the destabilizer, just as easily taking down the remaining two Targets as she had the Fusion before turning around and giving the signal to bring them back into the ship. The Pilot obeyed, sending the prepared drones to pick up the fallen gems while bringing the ship back into position to receive the three more rational gems.

* * *

"Pilot! Set a course for Homeworld!" called the Escort as she came onto the bridge of the ship, the Technician behind her grumbling about objectives and roles. The Pilot simply nodded. "See, Peridot, why can't you be more like the defect over here!" questioned the Escort, patting the Pilot's shoulder with a heavily muscled hand and grinning at the Technician. "Lighten up. We've got Rose Quartz on the ship! Yellow Diamond will reward you for this. Who cares about some stupid weapon?"

"Me, you clod! If I come back to Homeworld without checking up on it, Yellow Diamond will shatter me! I don't know about you but I like being in one piece, thanks!" came the Technician's outburst. The Escort narrowed her eyes at the offending gem but said nothing.

The Pilot simply continued to make the necessary adjustments to bring them into a position from which the ship would be able to jump back to Homeworld, taking in the conversation happening around him - it was a little bit hard not to considering the Escort still had her hand on his shoulder.

Suddenly an security alert from the brig caught the Pilot's attention.

"Ma'am! The Sapphire and Ruby you detained have escaped and fused again! The Pearl and Amethyst are out too! Even...even Rose Quartz has escaped! The Fusion is making their way towards us right now but the other three are unaccounted for. They could be anywhere but I have a lock on the Fusion. It's currently on level three and is closing in on the central plaza. Would you like me to prepare a warp point?" he announced.

"Yeah. Do it. Central plaza. Peridot, while I'm gone make sure none of the others manage to get onto the bridge. If we can get to gem controlled space before they take over then we can call for help but I'd be surprised if they even managed to find their way up here let alone take over the ship." The Escort was pissed. And a pissed Escort meant that anyone who got in her way would be smashed. It was all the Technician could do to respond with an affirmative and prepare her limb enhancers for a fight, scrambling to take up an offensive position just outside the door to the bridge as she did so. The Escort turned to the Pilot.

"Where's that warp point, defect?!"

Quickly, the Pilot set up a warp point in the side of the room to link to one near the central plaza which the Escort quickly stepped into, nodding her readiness to be transported. The Pilot pushed the button that would warp her near the Fusion and she disappeared in a flash of white light.

The rebels would soon know what happened to traitors to the gem empire. They'd be recaptured in an hour, max. Probably even beat up bit more just to make sure they knew the stupidity of fighting an overwhelmingly powerful enemy. Idiots. All of them. And Rose Quartz, that bitch. She would get what was coming to her.

The gem war had been terrible, yes, but not only for the rebellion like their propaganda made it seem. Homeworld had lost a millions - maybe billions - of good gems as well. Good soldiers, good officers, good gems, all of them. And then Rose Fucking Quartz had the sheer audacity to proclaim that they were necessary losses. No they weren't. No-one had had to die. All Quartz had to do was give in to the gem empire. None of them had to have been shattered. There was no such thing as a necessary loss. Everyone could have survived had it not been for her.

Having riled himself up, the Pilot decided to take a quick check on how the Escort was doing while the computer was making its calculations to calm down. But to say that he was surprised when he saw that she was being held off was an understatement. The Escort was taking quite the beating. From the Fusion! What the fuck was happening?! So surprised was the Pilot that he didn't notice the bridge door opening. It was only when a spear embedded itself in the back of his chair did he turn. At the door were the three other rebel gems, the Technician having been tied up with what appeared to be an Amethyst whip.

The Pilot hastily put his hand to his gems and pulled out his weapons, two medium sized pistols, and pointed them towards the trio in the door, the Technician struggling with her bonds out of the line of fire. The Amethyst smiled cockily, obviously thinking it would be no trouble to overpower him but she had another thing coming.

Pulling the triggers, two powerful burst of energy shot towards the three who, unfortunately, dove out of the way just in time.

"Just let us take you back to Homeworld! I swear they won't give you as harsh a punishment if you give in now!" he yelled.

"Never!" responded the Pearl, drawing another spear as she did.

"Then I'll have to take you down."

The Pilot closed his eyes and the Pearl gasped before charging towards him. He fired both guns at her chest, only meant to poof her but both shots were deflected, hitting the doorway behind her where the Technician had just hit her gem against the floor and summoned an escape pod. The Amethyst and Rose Quartz dove out of the way, the searing plasma almost burning their forms from proximity. The Pearl closed in on the Pilot, a determined look on her face but the Pilot stood firm, his eyes closed and guns trained on the Pearl's moving form, waiting, waiting, waiting.

Then the moment came. A shot was fired, deflected, the Pearl was hit with the shot that had followed behind the first and was flung backwards but was still able to continue.

"Woo! Go Pearl!" shouted the Amethyst. Pitiful.

"You got this!" called the Quartz. Shameful.

The Pearl was on guard now, having landed in a crouch with her spear in front of her in a defensive position.

"Just let us go back!"

"All you've got to do is leave Rose Quartz behind!" the three rebels were surprised at the demand but showed no sign of deliberation over it.

"Never!

"Your funeral then!"

The Pilot took a calming yet unnecessary breath before hailing plasma bolt after plasma bolt in the direction of the Pearl who began dodging and deflecting them in a panic, noticeably sluggish though. Obviously the shot from before had taken a bit out of her. The Pilot continued to press the gem, never letting up, never letting her move from her position, forcing her to contort her body to avoid being hit again. Somehow she didn't allow her form to slip but the Pilot knew it was only a matter of time. Sooner or later she would open a window and when she did he would be there with a grin on his face and a gun pointed directly at it.

The Pilot heard an explosion in the distance. The all of a sudden, the entire ship violently shook as it lost the energy holding it in orbit and began to fall back towards the ground, knocking him off his feet and making him open his eyes to gather his bearings. So involved in his fight had he been that he'd forgotten about the fight in the central plaza. Which was coincidentally just above the ship's main engine. The two combatants must have done something to it! Were they insane?! They were all going to shatter if he didn't do something about it. Quickly, he forgot all about the Pearl in front of him and turned back to the control terminal, intent on engaging the backup boosters and making sure the ship didn't fall apart.

Then the Pilot poofed, his abdomen having been unable to withstand the sudden and immense force the Garnet's gauntlet covered fist exerted. A green, spherical gem falling to the floor as he did.

* * *

Redone the chapter but reviews and PMs about what could happen are still appreciated.

Cheers to Xenoprime1337 for the help with the development of the background and thank you all for reading my story.

Ta ta~!


	2. Chapter 2

Hey. I'm back with chapter two. I know this story ain't all that great but I'm having fun writing it so . . . yeah.

Cheers to all of y'all who followed and a shoutout to Xenoprime1337 for their help with developing my plans for the story.

In any case, read on!

* * *

When the Pilot reformed, he was confused. Hadn't he been on the ship not three seconds ago? Where was he now? He looked around, slightly on edge, yet he was soon marvelling at the sights around him.

The ship lay in fiery pieces on the beach around, contrasting beautifully with the yellowish hues of the clouds lit up by the rising sun over the serenely sparkling sea stretching out over the horizon like a canvas blanket, cocooning the land in a protective layer of warm wetness as it woke up for a new day, reaching out into oblivion with a groggy smile and a sleepy yawn as though it were a young, innocent, impossibly naïve little child.

Too bad it would die soon.

Wait.

How was he supposed to get off the planet while the ship was in ruins at his feet? There was no way! He was stuck! And the cluster would wake up soon!

He felt his breath quicken as he franticly searched his mind for any possible way off the soon-to-be wasteland of a planet he was stood upon but to his horror he couldn't think of anything.

'This is is,' he thought, 'This is the end for me. Any minute now, the cluster will wake up and destroy me alongside everyone else on this miserable little mudball and there's nothing I can do about it!'

It was just as the Pilot was falling into this despair, this inky hole that he knew he'd never climb be able to climb out of whether he wanted to or not, and hot pinpricks of tears began to form in his eyes when a young male inhabitant of the aforementioned 'mudball' ran down to the burning wreck of the ship that lay in pieces on the beach, grinning with excitement.

* * *

Ronaldo was in his element. A space-ship! Here in Beach City! He'd known that there were other gems - heck, he'd even showed other people his evidence, not that they ever believed him, the fools. Well now who had egg on their faces? Not him, that's who.

But who cared about the others? He had a space-ship just sitting before him! He'd have been lying if he said it didn't make him feel like he was on cloud nine. The possibilities now were enormous! What if the other gems were still in the area? What if they were watching him right now?! Holy shit! This was his chance to become a part of something bigger!

He let out a laughed and let out a woop of joy, fully intent on exploiting this opportunity for all it was worth. There may have been the possibility that the other gems were dead, that crash had been quite spectacular after all, but that didn't matter. The point was that he had been right! And he had irrefutable proof!

Mentally making a note to come back later with a duffel bag to acquire a piece of the ship for proper inspection back at home, he began to look around for any sign that the other gems were still alive or, at the very least, their shattered gems. Even if the others didn't believe him about the ship belonging to other gems (he still couldn't quite believe that he was right) if he maybe found the remains of the gems then they wouldn't have any comeback for that, now would they?

No.

No they would not.

Ronaldo did a small twirl of happiness, basking in the glory of the ruined ship around him, before he noticed something. Was someone . . . crying? It sure sounded like it. It sounded like the weeping of someone who was in immense sadness. It couldn't have been the other gems, they wouldn't cry. At least, Ronaldo had never seen a gem cry at all. Would it even be possible for them? Would their biology allow it? These were thoughts for another time. There was someone crying and it was Ronaldo's job to find out who it was and cheer them up.

After a brief sweep of the beach, Ronaldo stumbled upon a jade green gem who appeared to be the source of the crying. Diving behind a nearby chunk of the ship, Ronaldo took a quick glance at the gem, cementing this moment in his mind as the first moment of a greater existence.

She was jade green, for one, with halves of a spherical, just as green gem sticking out from either side of her waist which was odd. With what appeared to be some sort of uniform with a yellow diamond on her chest and darker green leggings extending over her lower body, legs and feet, Ronaldo could tell that she was a part of some organisation or another (a gem organisation! Yet more gems!). Her hair was in a rather fluffy, grown out layers, making it obvious that this gem cared at least a little bit about her looks. There was not much complexity to her yet Ronaldo could tell that this wasn't a normal gem - again, she was crying - and Ronaldo had to school his emotions for a moment before he could walk over to her.

"Come on, Ronaldo. his is your big chance!" he mumbled to himself before taking a deep breath and walking out from behind the crashed ship and over to the crying gem.

* * *

"Uh . . . hey." came a voice, startling the Pilot from his sobbing. He gave a small start and quickly stood up, sniffing and rubbing the tears from his eyes. There was a human standing in front of him. It had curly yellow hair, glasses and a very odd taste in fashion, wearing what appeared to be cooking overalls.

"What?" he asked, his voice trembling like a resilient flower in the storm of his emotions, "I am a very busy gem. You are distracting me from my work. Leave."

"But . . . weren't you just crying?"

"No. That was . . . communication with Homeworld. There was no crying involved. Any gem stupid enough to get caught crying would be shattered . . . so no. I was not crying. You have not left yet. I would advise you to do so I can continue to . . . communicate." If the human bought that then the Pilot was a Pearl.

"Wait. Homeworld? There's a planet of gems?!" cried the human who suddenly looked very excited for some reason that the Pilot couldn't quite understand.

"Well . . . Homeworld is more of a military than a planet but . . . yes, we have planets . . . " responded the Pilot. Why wasn't this common knowledge here? Wasn't this the planet the Crystal Gems had tried to defend? Wouldn't they have told everyone about Homeworld?

"Oh man, this is amazing!" breathed the human, laughing, "How many of you are there? What are they like? Where do you all come from? How do gems . . . can gems even have...-"

"Sexual reproduction? No. Gems have more of an agricultural outlook upon reproduction. I'm probably not the right gem to ask though, so . . . you should leave."

"What?! No way! You're proving all of my theories about gems just by standing here!" Goodness, this human was persistent. The Pilot sighed.

"Alright. I didn't want to have to do this but . . . you leave me no choice."

Placing a hand on one of his gems, he materialised a pistol and aimed it at the annoying human who immediately jumped back and threw up his hands in panicked surrender,

"Whoa! Put the gun away! We can talk this out like rational people can't we?!"

"What does it matter? If you die now, you'll avoid being killed by the Cluster. This is much better for you, trust me."

"What? The Cluster? What's that?" the odd human asked, lowering his hands a bit before the Pilot pushed his gun in his direction again and put his hands back up.

"I don't know exactly. Above my level to even know of its existence, really. Again, this doesn't really matter. I'm going to shoot you in a second and your going to die."

"But . . . if you were going to shoot me . . . why haven't you already?"

The Pilot was silent. He had no clue why he hadn't pulled the trigger yet. This wouldn't be the first time he had killed someone. So why was it hard now?

"Maybe we can . . . take this to the Crystal Gems and they can handle it? Then you wouldn't have to . . . y'know . . . shoot me?"

This human. First, it had the audacity to walk up to him while he was crying, then it had tried to bombard him with questions and now it was trying to give him orders? It was almost as bad as Homeworld! Although . . . he was stuck on this dumb planet. And his best hope for survival was probably to get the Crystal Gems to take out the Cluster. Heck, maybe they'd destroy each other and he'd never have to even deal with them outside of a few words about the damnable weapon.

"Fine," begrudged the Pilot, de-materialising his pistol, "Take me to them."

"A 'please' wouldn't go amiss." mumbled the human as it turned to the south and began to walk, the Pilot following from an safe distance, clearing his face from any remnants of the tears with the back of his fist.

* * *

And that's a wrap for now!

Remember, reviews, much like criticisms, are not entirely necessary but they're always welcome and treasured.

Ta!


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